Everything you need to analyze and understand a reference image before painting. Color palette, values, notan, temperature, and shapes - all in one place.
Painting from reference is hard. You're trying to translate a complex image into paint strokes while juggling color, value, composition, edges, and a hundred other things. Most artists jump straight in and hope for the best.
Professional artists know better. They analyze their reference first. They identify the color palette, map out the values, check the composition, and understand the temperature relationships before touching their canvas.
Color Study automates this analysis so you can do what the pros do - without spending hours on preliminary studies.
Extract the exact colors from your reference. Get hex codes, RGB values, and see how colors relate to each other.
See lights and darks clearly separated. Understand the value structure that creates form and depth.
Check your composition with a 2-value study. See if the abstract pattern is strong before you paint.
Visualize warm and cool areas. Understand how temperature creates atmosphere and depth in the reference.
Break complex images into simple, paintable shapes. See the big picture before getting lost in details.
Create a paint-by-region guide that maps your palette to specific areas of the image.
Here's how artists use Color Study in their workflow:
Digital painters: Keep Color Study open in a second window or on a tablet. Reference the palette, values, and shapes as you paint in Photoshop, Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, or any software.
Traditional artists: Study your reference with Color Study before going to the easel. Note the colors you need to mix, understand the value structure, and plan your composition. Some artists print the value map as a physical reference.
Why not just use Photoshop's grayscale conversion or an eyedropper tool?